Supernatural – Free To Be You And Me (5.03) – review

Not sure he trusts himself anymore, Sam (Jared Padalecki) decides to give up hunting, but a late-night visitor (guest star Adrianne Palicki) won’t let him off the hook that easily. Dean (Jensen Ackles), intent on stopping the Apocalypse, continues hunting on his own and teams up with Castiel (Misha Collins) to find the Archangel Raphael, as Castiel believes Raphael knows God’s location. Miller Tobin directed the episode, written by Jeremy Carver.

This third episode of the new season of Supernatural begins the saga of Sam and Dean’s new “solitary” adventures. Sam has decided that he is leaving the hunter life once more, despite the fact that Armageddon has arrived and he was the cause of it. His split with Dean takes him to a small town, where he takes a job at local bar and tries just to blend in. He is, however, unable to do that when two hunters show up at the bar and call him by his real name.

This familiar spin on Sam’s character is quite frustrating, since he is back to pining for his dead girlfriend and how his life could have been different. This moping is always the part of his character that I have found most annoying, and it is over exemplified in this episode when he begins having visions of his dead girlfriend. When these scenes started, I found myself looking for a fast forward button. Sam’s “I am so depressed” attitude weighs upon every scene he is in, until he gets into a fight with some angry hunters who find out he has released the Devil. There is a scene toward the end of the episode where Sam confronts a physic vision of the Lucifer, and the dialogue in it is almost predictable.  The revelation that Sam is the Lucifer’s true vessel was laughable, considering last week we learned that Dean was the Archangel Micheal’s vessel. So it is now quite obvious that the writers are going to pit brother against brother—not a trite device in the least.

The only redeeming quality to this episode was the strange and humorous adventures of Dean and his new, angelic, partner Castiel, who are both now on the run from Heaven and Hell. When Dean decides to take Castiel to lose his virginity at a house of ill-repute, it can only end with Castiel counseling one of the “working” girls, and the writers do not disappoint.  Dean finds in Castiel something that is missing from his relationship with Sam:  the ability to be himself and not have to watch over his younger brother’s every action. Loyal fans of the show know that Sam can be quite a handful.

Overall this episode was quite a sleeper in my opinion, and I am not used to seeing this type of episode from what has been one of my favorite shows for over four seasons now. I really like the cast and how the story has matured over time. The new Heaven and Hell plot started last season is starting to veer toward foolishness this season.  This episode made one thing very clear:  this may be Supernatural‘s last season. I know all things must come to an eventual end, but I hope we do not see this ground-breaking series end on a sour note. Hopefully this episode will prove to be the calm before the storm; and, as if to support that hope, the next episode looks like it will be quite interesting.